This invention relates to devices for increasing the volume of pressurized air delivered to sprayers. In particular it relates to a booster which increases the volume of pressurized air to a sprayer which utilizes a turbine to provide a volume of low pressure air delivered to the spray gun.
Prior art devices of this general type which are known to the inventor are described in the following United States patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,809 discloses a fluid atomizing sprayer in which a venturi converts high pressure, low volume air to low pressure, high volume air at its output side. The sprayer disclosed in this patent does not utilize a turbine, nor any electrically powered appliance at all in the spray generating part of the equipment remote from the power mechanism which provides the original source of compressed air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,488 discloses a centrifugal type compressor in which a portion of the pressurized output air is channeled back to the intake side to reduce the pressure differential between the intake and output sides of the compressor thereby reducing forces acting on the internal parts of the compressor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,798 discloses a rotary type engine in which the turbine is separated from the combustion chamber, and pressurized gases are fed from the combustion chamber to the turbine through a conduit which includes a venturi.
U.S. Pat. No. 726,770 discloses a steam operated motor in which a venturi type injector is connected between the steam boiler and the motor. The injector draws ambient air into the line through the venturi, to increase fluid velocity and volume while at the same time reducing pressure.
Sprayers which utilize a turbine to increase air volume and lower pressure are also known to the prior art. The invention described and claimed herein comprises an improvement for such sprayers by providing a supercharger that substantially boosts or increases the volume of air such sprayers are able to deliver at lower pressure. Increasing the volume of air at lower pressure enables sprayers to do a better job of applying paint to the surfaces being painted, and gives the workman better control over the quality of his work.
The supercharger also performs the function of cooling the pressurized air delivered to the turbine by increasing the volume thereof and lowering its pressure as air is flowed through the venturi into the chamber of the supercharger.